Different types of automated stores for storing objects are known, for example of the type disclosed by the Italian patent no. 1310573 in the name of the Applicant, comprising a plurality of towers provided with shelves, in which the objects are able to be stored, and a transfer device, movable horizontally, provided with lifting and translation members by means of which it is able to dispose the various objects on said shelves and to pick up said objects when they have to be discharged from the store.
The limitation of such known automated stores is that the disposition of the objects on the shelves for which they are intended occurs in such a manner as to create a lot of empty spaces between one object and the other, and hence determines a considerable reduction in the storage capacity of the store.
Moreover, from CH-A-680 212 it is known an automated store wherein a horizontal endless chain conveyor is mounted on a movable plane which is disposable along the storage bay and at any shelf height. A transfer unit above the conveyor moves the bundles from the trays of the endless chain to the selected shelf and vice versa. This known automatic store is cumbersome and complicated and cannot permit to contemporaneously transfer a plurality of objects from the movable plane to any shelf and vice versa.
One purpose of the present invention is to achieve an automated store which will allow to store a plurality of objects having at least a substantially plane lower surface, also of different shapes and sizes, on the relative shelves, so as to optimize the storage spaces and to exploit the capacity of the store to the utmost.
Another purpose of the present invention is to achieve an automated store of the above type, which is structurally simple and functionally effective and reliable, and which allows to store the objects in such a manner as to form homogeneous lots, for example according to their final destination.
The applicant has devised and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art in order to achieve these purposes and obtain other advantages.